


More Than You Can Handle

by Wallwalker



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Angst, Canon Disabled Character, Constrained Writing, Gen, Pre-Canon, Symmetrina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 03:06:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3879886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barret and Marlene, after leaving Corel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than You Can Handle

**Author's Note:**

> Information about the symmetrina form can be found [here.](http://www.sff.net/people/bruce/antholog.htm)  
> (For the curious, n = 45.)

**1\. Desert at Night**

It got awfully cold, that first night. I was freezing, but Marlene... she couldn't even cry.

Momma didn't raise a quitter. But she said there ain't no shame in realizin' something's bigger than you can handle.

Didn't know whether that was true. Figured we'd see.

**2\. Between the Cracks**

_You do what you can to survive. You take small jobs in Junon, dirty ones sometimes. You ain't proud of that; you've done things you never wanna tell Marlene about._

_Problem is, there's always somebody else to do a job if you won't take it; most of 'em are younger and stronger and whole, and they've got nothing to lose. They take stupid risks, and they usually don't get out alive._

_You try not to hurt anybody, because nobody deserves that, but you've gotta put food on the table somehow._

**3\. The Silence Is the Worst Part**

He remembered the first time Marlene got sick.

She'd cried for hours, and that was bad enough, but he knew what to do when she cried. It was when she stopped that it got really bad, because he could still remember the first time she'd stopped in the desert at night, when it was so, so cold.

The doctor had come by, an old man with shaking hands, the only one he'd found who'd see her for as much cash as he had. He'd taken Barret's last few dollars, forty-five dirty and worn out bills, and gave him a bottle of pink liquid she needed to take, if she was strong enough to swallow it.

He'd spent hours sitting there, bathing her to bring down the fever, hoping he could bring them both through this. But what if he did? What about the next time?

He had to do something. He couldn't keep living like this, doing these dirty jobs and wondering when the money would run out, how he would be able to keep them fed. Marlene deserved better.

**4\. Necessary Sacrifices**

_The gun's heavy on your arm. You aren't gonna complain; you asked for this. Besides, they said you'd get used to the weight. You'll need a strong weapon if you're gonna take down the people who destroyed your home._

_You can't keep living here. This place is nowhere now that the war's done. The jobs are drying up, the people with money to burn are leaving. You have to move on, do what you gotta do._

_It ain't easy to hold Marlene anymore, though. That's the one thing you regret._

**5\. Moving On**

The truck's bumping and rattling, but Marlene's quiet. Guess she's gotten used to the noise. I'm busy keeping watch; we ain't got much, but I ain't giving it up.

Midgar's not gonna be any better. But it won't be more than we can handle, either.


End file.
